"Welcome, welcome all newcomers and old hands alike. Sir Edgar, would you care to show our new arrivals to their quarters?"
"Of course" Sir Edgar gestured down a corridor to the right and Caleigh went to follow when she was held by Gideon.
"Oh."
"Caleigh, Gideon, follow me, if you will." Tovrik took them up a flight of spiral stairs to an archway where a lifelike falcon made of gold perched above the double doors on the stonework overhang. The doors opened inward at Tovrik's approach and revealed an antechamber with three doors leading off in different directions. Turning into the leftmost of the three they came into a mid-sized room which Caleigh took at once to be Tovrik's study, being as it was lined with bookshelves and arrayed with a selection of curious instruments set around an impressive darkwood desk. "It is good to finally have you here Caleigh, I am very glad you have decided to join us."
"Forgive me for the delay and for the trouble I have caused..." Tovrik held up his hand to silence Caleigh.
"The cause for your delay is known and I do not begrudge it for a moment. Thanks to you we now have friends in new places and know a little more about what is happening in the world outside these walls."
"Do you know everything that happened?"
"I know enough and I require no deeper explanation than what I know. One aspect of this that I shall draw my attention to, however, is how the Calderians were fooled into attacking you in the first instance. I find this curious and troubling."
"May I ask one thing?"
"Of course you may."
"How do you know of all this?"
"I learned all I know from Gideon."
"How? Gideon arrived with me."
"Caleigh, remember we are wizards." Said Gideon. "Words need not always be exchanged in person."
"Am I to learn this secret?"
"In time, Caleigh allow us to keep some of our tricks to ourselves for a while." Tovrik soothed. "The important thing is that I have this news and I have had some hours to contemplate it. What are your thoughts Gideon?"
"There is some dark work afoot. I am sure that the recent deaths of the Calderan druids and the presence of magic in this foil are no coincidence."
"I agree with you, I believe some of our old friends have made a return." Tovrik noticed the curious expression that instantly passed over Caleigh's face. "Of course when I say friends I mean quite the contrary."
"You know who is behind this?"
"I can guess and if my guess is right then we must be more careful than ever. Gideon, would you mind if I charged you with investigating this? I should like to know of what is passing in the lands to the west."
"I had intended to offer as much."
"Very good."
"If you will excuse me I will begin to look into the matter at once."
"By all means do." Gideon left leaving Caleigh with a sense of hearing only part of a conversation.
"Are you sending him away? He has only just returned to you."
"He will be with us for a few days yet. Gideon rarely departs without a thorough preparation."
"Are you not imperilling him sending him to where our enemies are?"
"Our enemies are seldom in one place to be found and Gideon is thoroughly capable of protecting himself. Indeed he is thoroughly capable as a whole, if I tried to spare him from the more arduous undertakings he would be quite insulted."
"Was my training such an undertaking?" Caleigh asked with a grin.
"It was an important responsibility. I hope it was not too arduous for either of you."
"No, it was not. Gideon is a very good teacher, though he may not believe it."
"And you, no doubt, made a perfect student. I can tell at a mere glance that your power has grown immensely since we last met. This is good for us all. I do not exaggerate when I say that your training was and is an important task. Though I gave you the choice to stay away in truth much of our efforts here would have proved futile without you."
"Well, I am here for whatever use I can be."
"Much use, I am certain but all such demands of you can wait. I realise this is all still new to you and there must be much you would wish to learn and makes sense of."
"There is so much I would wish to know that I do not know where to start."
"Well then, let us start with the beginning shall we? Would you like to know how we reckon the various arts?"
"Very much so." With a nod Tovrik took them back to the antechamber and to the middle of the three doors she had seen before. Behind the door was a large open chamber devoid of furnishings or windows. A dim light kept it from complete darkness though the source of this light could not be discerned.
"Did Gideon tell you about the elements?"
"Yes, he said in the west our magic comes from the element of water, although that is a metaphor of a kind."
"Hmmm, yes, a metaphor of a kind. Most magic lives in a metaphorical state, so in a sense these things can be both metaphorical and literal in their meaning. Of course, saying this sounds wise but it is not saying much of any substance, is it? So let us look at the thing from its origin. Man, before civilisation, before Kingdoms and castles, a primitive creature living in tribes. One day one appears in their mists capable of controlling water and he is revered, why?"
"He can keep the tribe alive."
"Good, so what is water in its literal sense?"
"Wet?" Caleigh squeaked uncertainly.
"Beyond that?" Tovrik continued heedless.
"Well, with water we can drink and we can grow crops to eat."
"Yes, water at its most basic is life, this is the literal magic. What is water then metaphorically?"
"Empathy?"
"Perfect answer, how did you..."
"That's Gideon's answer."
"Ah, what do you think he means by that?"
"Well, if water is life and all things must live then...it is something we share?"
"Quite, it is that which we all have in common and that which binds us to each other. The common need for survival, the successful harvest that feeds a community, and also think of the water within us, blood, think how we are tied to each other by blood. So let us see our water wizard doing his work." Tovrik pointed his staff towards one corner of the room, which she now appreciated was pentagonal in shape. In this corner a large spider appeared glimmering turquoise in colour rapidly weaving a web in the same hue. "To another tribe comes a man who knows the lore of the earth and this tribe prospers, why?" This time Caleigh had to think for a moment before answering.
"Mayhap he knows where the best land is?"
"Yes, and he knows what is in the land. So what is earth then, literally?"
"Our surroundings?"
"And metaphorically?"
"I am less sure."
"Say what occurs to you."
"Perhaps...things."
"That which we can know and touch of the world around us." Tovrik clarified. "In one sense material and in another flesh and bone, our physical selves." Tovrik pointed his staff at the corner to the right of the busy spider of water, who by now had filled its nook from top to bottom, and another spider appeared, this time golden brown, and likewise began to weave a glistening web where it appeared. "There is another tribe in this primitive world who have suffered greatly by the hands of nature and other tribes. Then one day a man comes to them who knows how the wind will blow and where the rains will fall and harkening to him this tribe survives disaster and toil that surely would have finished them, what is his gift to them?" Caleigh smiled confidently at this question.
"Knowledge."
"Yes, interesting is it not? Many would wrongly guess that the element of air related to breath but breath is not what fills the sky. Fish breathe under the waves yet they still feel the winds rocking their world from above. Air, or rather the sky, is quite simply the limit of our horizons and herein lies the metaphor for the sum of our knowledge, relating this time to the things we cannot always touch." In the corner to the ri
ght of the golden web a further web took shape with a sky blue spider at its heart. Tovrik turned to the side now with back to the web of water. "Who comes next?"
"A man with fire?"
"Quite so, and what does a man with fire bring to his tribe?"
"Light and warmth?"
"What do these things do for the tribe?"
"They can cook?"
"Any tribe with fire can cook, this is a tribe who have fire to command. Light and warmth greater than all others. How does this make them different?"
"Forgive me, I am bereft of thoughts." Caleigh waited in silence for the answer. "Mayhap they can work in the night as well as the day?"
"Indeed. Control of fire enables them to break nature's rules; to work when the sun is low, to be warm when snows surround them, to fashion tools for tasks beyond human strength. Thus the metaphor here is of inspiration and invention, the ability to make a wish become real." A glowing red spider formed where Tovrik pointed his staff and weaved a fiery web across the wall behind. Tovrik turned again so that it was web of air that was growing up behind him. “And last but not least we have a tribe amongst whom we find a revered man, able to see dreams with his waking eyes and converse with ancestors long departed. What does his gift mean to the tribe?”
“I know not, in honesty this is the element of magic I understand the least.”
“That is quite understandable for it is the magic of the unknown.” Caleigh thought back to Gideon’s lessons about perceiving spells and the difference it made when a spell could be recognised.
“Then mayhap, if this man can reveal the unknown to them, this tribe is less afraid than all others.”
“Quite so, they have a strong religion and belief system and do not see death as the end as others are wont to do.” A final spider appeared, silver-white, and commenced its web-building in the unoccupied part of the room where it appeared. Soon the whole room glimmered with the multi-coloured fibres growing up about them. “This is not all of magic still as there are two final elements in this room we have yet to discuss. Do you know what they are?”
“I can think of no others.”
“Truly? Then what it is that falls from this ceiling and touches every strand?” Caleigh looked hard but could see only what had already been identified.
“I can see only…” Caleigh paused seeing the glint of encouragement in Tovrik’s eyes.
“You can see, yes.”
“I can see because there is light.” She finished with a smile.
“Indeed, light and shadow touching all things. There is goodness and evil within every being, choices made for good and ill, a way to aid and a way to harm. Not that all life is so simple or all choices are made with clarity of vision. Even so, the path towards light and the path towards shadow is there for each of us.”
“Is there then magic of light and magic of darkness?”
“Yes and no. There is light and darkness in all forms of magic as there is light that can be used for evil ends and darkness that can be used for good. The branch of magic to which these refer, however, is the magic of the gate, through which creatures can be summoned from other plains in service of both darkness and light.” Tovrik then gestured to the room as a whole now filled with interlacing webs. “This may have been how magic began; we cannot now know. It is for certain how it was left after the great cataclysm of a thousand years ago. Before this there may have been other branches of magic of which there is no longer any record. All magic that is left in the world is that which came from the survivors of that great struggle and represented here in spider form.”
“Am I to understand that all our present knowledge of magic comes from those who betrayed Loreliath.”
“Quite so, even the magic of Loreliath is in her absence lost to us. She was a Summoner and there have been no others since. Her presence is still felt though, as the light keeping the darkness at bay.”
“And the darkness represents the Beast?”
“Not precisely, the Beast is simply the worst denizen of the plain of darkness. The true counterpoint to Loreliath would be Xyraxis.”
“Is there not a plain of light also?”
“There is.”
“Why does not a creature equal to the Beast emerge from thence and thus spare us?”
“That is not a question to which I have an answer.”
Caleigh did not query this final statement instead her attention was caught by the spiders and their webs. At one point the strands from the water spider and earth spider had crossed and glowed with emerald light.
“What has happened here?”
“What do you imagine has happened?”
“A new kind of magic has been born?”
“Can you say what it is?”
“Well…I assume ‘tis some kind of meeting between empathy and err, things.”
“On the water side that becomes the lore of living things. Does that sound familiar?”
“Ah, this is druidry?” Tovrik nodded in confirmation. Caleigh walked over to where the water and fire strands met with magenta light. “This is Enchantment.” Where air crossed water she stopped amid electric blue strands. “Sorcery and” moving to a far point where water and the unseen met to glow a deep purple “Illusion, which is your art.”
“And so it is.” With these words all spiders and webs faded to a brightly lit room with white marble walls. “Now you are with us we have great talents in three of the four arts of the west. There are others with us too who you will meet imminently. It is no insult to them to say they that their powers are not equal to those possessed by Gideon, you and I yet they each have skills which are of the utmost value and we are made far stronger for their presence. I hope that more still can be persuaded to join us and, if you are willing, this the principle task I will ask of you from time to time as your training progresses.”
“I am most willing, but why would you entrust this to me? Surely the name of Tovrik would bring more to us than anything I can say or do?”
“There I disagree. You are an enchanter and therefore more persuasive by nature and, moreover, you are Loreliath’s chosen one and her name carries with it greater force than mine. Remember, I am little more than a jester to most.”
“I think you are more than you say.” Caleigh teased.
“Are not we all? Now, I think you have endured quite enough of my words for one sitting. Let us meet some of the other members of our gifted family.”
18. The Librarians of Elevered
Tovrik led Caleigh to a great set of double doors right in the heart of the tower. They stood ajar allowing them to proceed through without pause to the wonder that lay behind. A vast room opened up before them like a mighty arena such as the Senatians used in times past. At the centre was a circular space within which was set a large desk backed by row upon row of scrolls stacked into pigeon holes. Upon the desk sat a handful of thick and heavy-looking ledgers wherein all records of the library were kept. From the doors this central space was reached via an aisle between two descending staircases and either side of the records shelves two further spiral staircases wound upwards into shelf lined heights. Above and all around them balconies loomed over holding further volumes still, sometimes bridged by iron wrought gangways and short sets of steps.
Seated at the wide desk was a balding man of below average stature and the swollen girth of one who had lived a well-fed, indoor life. He was dressed in plain brown robes like a number of the figures popping in out of view on the balconies and staircases. Looking up from beneath his prominent dome he spotted Tovrik and Caleigh’s entrance to the library and moved out from behind the ledgers to greet them.
“Caleigh, this is Mabon our Chief Librarian here in Elevered.”
“It is honour to meet you.”
“Let not his simple habit fool you, Mabon is a man of upper most prominence here. All matters bound in the real world are his domain whether it be the stewardship of our written lore or the ebb and flow of our store of coin, it is h
e that must be answered to. Indeed, I would not be able to ever depart from here were it not for his tireless efforts.”
“You flatter me Master Tovrik.”
“Nonsense. As I warned you, Mabon may affect a modest air but he is a trickster at heart, just as I.”
“I am afraid Master Tovrik flatters me once more, my talent with the art is negligible compared to his.”
“You see, Caleigh. It is just as I said. Let us leave him afore he blinds us further with his cloak of humility.” With a short bow Mabon took his leave and the two of them started up the left-hand staircase behind the desk. A short way around this climb there was a doorway on the left side leading to a further chamber set with tables and benches and lined with empty shelves. “This here is the study room for the lore of Enchantment. As you can see it stands empty as of present. This is, I might say, despite my request for materials to be brought hither. Alas, your fellow in the art seems likewise absent.”
“There is another Enchanter here?”
“Yes, albeit one who does not seem so willing to embrace learning.” Tovrik chided with a tone less strict than his words.
“Gideon said that there a six wizards at Elevered. Is he one of them?”
“Six? Hmm, that is Gideon’s judgement, by which standard I would say no.”
“So he is a wizard but not of sufficient skill to impress Gideon?”
“You surmise correctly.” Tovrik continued the tour past the Enchanting study room following the steps round the back of the archives behind Mabon's desk until they reappeared on the other side where there was a room on their left level with the one they had just passed. In this room there were many decorations of vivid colour and intricacy, foremost of which was a swirling green disk atop a circular stand. "Come in." Tovrik beckoned. From above it became clear that the green disk was in fact a living map of the region that surrounded Elevered. By its far end there was a large paint stand holding a picture that was facing away from Caleigh and Tovrik as they entered.
Enchantress Awakening: Part One of the Book of Water (The Elemental Cycle 1) Page 18